Website
Builder
Build a Website 101
 When it Comes To Building a Website You’ve
Got Options!
As I have stated previously,
when it comes to building a website, you have a number of
options. In this session we are going to
discuss a method that is increasing in popularity amongst
small businesses, home based businesses, Internet
Entrepreneurs and professional online marketers; its called
using a website builder.
Web
Designer Takes Me For $1200.00
It used to be, that if you
wanted a website, you had to pay out of the ying yang just
to get a five or ten page website.
That is, unless you knew HTML,
had a buddy who was a web designer or were versed in using
one of the numerous website design software applications
such as Dreamweaver or QuarkXPress.
I attempted to build my first
website using Microsoft Word. Needless to say that didn’t go
over to well. My next step was to hire a web designer;
$1200.00 later, I had a website that can be best described
as: poorly laid out, absolutely no SEO optimization and less
than professional graphics, (the header looked like it was
done in Microsoft Paint.)
At that point I started looking
for a solution that I could afford; knowing that I was going
to be building over 100 websites, hiring a web designer was
not an option! My answer came when I found out about website
builders.
What is a
Website Builder?
A website builder is
user-friendly software application that eliminates the need
for using design applications such as Dreamweaver,
FrontPage, QuarkXPress and
from knowing HTML, CSS, script and other programming
knowledge. A good website builder makes building a website a
simple task and can be accomplished by just about anyone who
can type, copy and paste. There are essentially three types
of website builders.
-
Free Website Builder
-
Online Website Builder
-
Stand Alone Website Builder
Free Website
Builder
When it comes to free website
builders, the caveat is, “You get what you pay for!” The
fact is when they say, “FREE!” What they really mean is:
(a) They have a
free version that has limited capabilities; if you want the
full version, there is a cost involved. In sales, this is
called bait and switch. They bait you with the free model and
then switch you over to the paid model.
(b) You can use
their free version as long as you pay to host your website
through their company
(c) You can use
their free version as long as you allow them to place ads on
your website.
(d) You can use
their free version as long as you keep their link prominently
displayed on your website.
Online Website
Builder
An online website builder, is
one that can ONLY be accessed online. Meaning that, even if
you wanted to, you could not work on your website offline.
For some people, this restriction is unacceptable, for
others, its no big deal. Most of the companies that have
this service, (i.e., Sitecube, Citymax, Ewisoft, Site2you,
etc.) provide pre-made templates and all you have to do is
add your content.
You should be aware; you don’t
get a lot of options with most online website builders. In
my humble opinion, you should only use an online website
builder if you are not concerned about website ranking and
traffic. It is very rare that these websites rank high or
have high PRs. Mainly because other webmasters and companies
refuse to link to pre-fabbed easily recognizable template
based websites. And as the saying goes, “If you have no
incoming links, your website stinks!”
Stand Alone
Website Builder
There are a number of stand
alone website builders on the market. The great thing about
these website builders is that you can build a website
offline and preview it before uploading it to the Internet.
That means you can check the layout on any browser, test the
navigation and links, check your SEO settings and determine
how much bandwidth each page will consume when clicked.
One warning, you need to know that some stand
alone website builders are not worth your money or time. The
programmers who created them didn’t take into consideration
that the people using the software would not be programmers
and their instructional manuals are a lot to be desired. One
of the top website builders on the market is XSitePro.
Thsi site was built with XSitePro...
To Your
Success
Joe
Elliot - YouBuildWebsites.com
Better known as “Average
Joe”
I’m Not an Internet Guru
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